To avoid incurring penalty charges, self-assessment taxpayers have until 1 April to pay any outstanding tax liabilities in full or set up an online payment plan for the 2019/2020 tax year.
HMRC has given self-assessment taxpayers more time to pay their tax due to the impact of the pandemic.
Any taxpayers who are unable to pay their tax in full can set up a payment plan without facing a 5% late payment penalty charge, providing these arrangements are in place by midnight on 1 April.
Those who have yet to settle their tax liabilities can pay their tax bill or set up a monthly payment plan online at gov.uk.
Setting up a monthly payment plan allows taxpayers to spread the cost of their self-assessment tax bill into monthly instalments until January 2022.
Almost 117,000 taxpayers have set up monthly payment arrangements online, totalling repayments of more than £437m.
Anyone worried about paying their tax and unable to set up a payment plan online should contact their accountant or HMRC for help and support on 0300 200 3822.
Any taxpayers who can afford to make full payment can pay in the usual way for example, online, via their bank, or by post.
31 January Deadline
There is no change to the payment deadline and other obligations are not affected.
The payment deadline remains 31 January 2021 and interest will be charged on late payment. The current rate of late payment interest is 2.6%.
A late payment penalty of 5% will be charged if tax remains outstanding, and a payment plan has not been set up, by midnight on 1 April 2021.
Further late payment penalties are charged at 6 and 12 months (August 2021 and February 2022 respectively), on tax outstanding where a payment plan has not been set up.
Reduce Your Payment on Account
Self-assessment taxpayers who are required to make Payments on Account and know their 2020/2021 tax bill is going to be lower than in 2019/2020, due to loss of earnings because of Covid-19, can reduce their payments.
Visit gov.uk to find out more about Payments on Account and how to reduce them.
